Absolum Review – A Roguelike Beat ’em Up with Style

Absolum Review

I’ll admit it. Sometimes I hear the phrase “action adventure roguelike,” and my eyes glaze over. Genre fatigue is a thing. But no matter how crowded a particular gaming niche might be, there’s always room for a good game, an original game, or a title that approaches the genre in a refreshing way. For anyone drowning in a sea of copycats, Absolum might be the lifeline they need.

Genre Hybrid (Naturally)

Absolum is a melting pot of genres. Inspired by classic 2D, side-scrolling beat-’em-ups, it adds a roguelike structure and progression system and an action-adventure plot. Nothing feels mismatched, and all the game’s gears mesh pretty well.

While maybe not the element that will keep you playing, the game’s art direction definitely stands out. It starts with a hand-painted cartoon look that’s colorful and nicely detailed. Both the enemies and heroes have an appealing fantasy character vibe that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game’s varied environments like castles and forests, and seashores are evocative. For a 2.5D game — you can take paths and move between background, foreground, and center — there are an unusual number of little secrets and side areas to discover.

The game’s combat effects, explosions, and spells are exceptionally well done, making combat visually consistently engaging. While we’re talking about aesthetics and presentation, the game’s music is great, if occasionally a little repetitive over frequent runs. It has a classic medieval adventure kind of feel. Equally effective is the game’s voice acting. Each of the playable characters has, well, a lot of character. I didn’t necessarily enjoy them equally in combat, but they were all fun to listen to. The script has fun with fantasy tropes and has a consistent sense of humor that doesn’t try too hard.

Where Swords Hit Orcs. Combat, I Mean

When it comes to the game’s action, I’ll start with a negative that’s directly tied to Absolum’s side-scrolling foundation. Certainly, the front-middle-back placement of enemies and movement is a classic arcade mechanic. However, it was frequently frustrating to read the exact placement of enemies in the 2.5D space, and I missed many attacks. Sometimes, hits landed — or whiffed — just behind or in front of where they should have been. Character movement wasn’t always precise or entirely smooth. Runs were sometimes ended because of this imprecision. Another gripe is that in the heat of a large-scale encounter, character facing isn’t always easy to read or control. Now, those complaints are not insignificant, but they don’t take too much away from Absolum’s generally engaging and satisfying combat.

Absolum is a roguelite, meaning that when runs end, the hero returns to home base with money, XP, or materials that can be used to level up skills and spells or add new ones, making subsequent attempts a little easier. Enemy placement and loot are randomized, although the types of enemies remain consistent in a particular zone. The goal is, of course, to reach a particular area’s final boss, unlocking the next part of the journey. Their mechanics are roguelite 101, and Absolum doesn’t stray far from the template.

The game begins with two heroes. Karl is a dwarf who favors brawling with his fists and using a blunderbuss to fire projectiles. Galandra is an all-around sword fighter. Later heroes include a ranged magic user, a levitating frog named Brome, and an acrobatic rogue named Cider. Each player will certainly have their favorites. I played mostly as Karl or Brome. One welcome mechanic is that although each hero’s spells or specials need to be upgraded separately, the player’s level — and thus, all characters — is consistent from hero to hero. Still, it’s likely that players will want to concentrate on maxing out one or two characters.

Ride the Hog (Literally, There are Mounts)

Roguelikes have both a built-in problem and an opportunity. If they get the balance between repetition and reward just right, the game becomes a “just one more run” success. Hades is a great example, showering the player with loot, new dialogue, and story beats with each attempt. Absolum does a pretty good job solving this puzzle, in part because each area is relatively short and there are lots of things to pick up and items to discover. At the same time, enemy variety is a little lacking, and repeated runs did start to feel awfully similar.

Absolum enters the crowded roguelike space with a refreshing and appealing art style and classic-feeling beat-em-up mechanics. Playable solo or in 2-person co-op, each of Absolum’s characters caters to a very specific playstyle, and it’s fun to switch between them. Although character progression is a little slow, and the movement mechanics occasionally frustrate, Absolum should appeal to fans of engaging action adventures, roguelikes, and brawlers. Absolum has something for almost everyone.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***